Raven Ridge (Witches of Sanctuary Book 2) (5 page)

Reid catches my hand. “Willa. Where are you going?”

“This was a bad idea. That woman looks like she has a basket full of red apples ready to hand out like trick or treat candy and I’m already so sleepy.”

Reid laughs, pulling me forward. “She’s not an evil queen, my dear Snow White. She’s a lonely old lady and she’s expecting us.”

“Expecting us? How?” I glance back at the old house and the even older lady. “She doesn’t look like the cell phone type.”

“I told you last night. I sent a message.”

“By smoke signal?

“Of course not.” He laughs like I’m the crazy one. “Raven.”

I move back around to Reid’s side, and a flock of birds springs out of the bushes next to me. The commotion catches Svetta’s attention and she looks up the hill at us. Reid throws his hand up in greeting. “It’s just us, Svetta.”

She waves for us to come down the hill. I follow, trying not to fall over the crumbling dirt beneath my feet. “Mr. Thomas,” Svetta says, smiling. “Welcome to the Ridge.”

“Thank you for accepting my request. I apologize that it was on such short notice.”

“No apology necessary. Come in, sit down. I brewed up a pot of tea for the occasion.”

“Tea and apples,” I say behind Reid’s back, and he shoots me a dirty look over his shoulder.

I’m surprised by the inside of Svetta’s house. It’s…normal. It looks like any other house. No cauldron or jars full of frog toes. Not that I have a cauldron or jar of frog toes in my house. However, I don’t look like I should have a magic mirror and an emotionally compromised huntsman on standby.

Wind chimes sing in the background as the breeze whistles through an open window in the tiny kitchen. Potted petunias and climbing roses overflow out of scarlet and plum pots at my feet. Patchwork quilts and baskets of yarn sit next to an empty chair by the smoldering fireplace. I take in a deep breath and I swear I smell ginger. Hot and straight out of the oven.

Maybe I’m wrong about Snow White. This house is much more like Little Red Riding Hood. It’s straight up grandma heaven in here. There’s still a big bad wolf, though. Somewhere he hides, waiting to bare his big, sharp teeth.

Svetta motions for us to take a seat at a round table next to the window. She removes her gangly cloak and hangs it on a hook by the door. Beneath it is a gown. It’s not that different from the one I wore for the Declaration ceremony. It’s woven in beautiful colors of yellow, orange, and emerald green. The design in each layer is intricate and small. She notices me staring. “I was just admiring your dress. It’s magnificent. Did you make that yourself?”

Svetta holds out the skirt of her dress. “An old lady has to have a hobby. Although my fingers aren’t much for sewing anymore. I much prefer to work in my garden nowadays.” She picks up a clay pitcher and brings a couple glasses over to the table. “Fresh mulberry root tea,” she says, pouring a steaming brown liquid into the glass.

Abby notices my hesitation. “Svetta has one of the finest herb gardens in the region. She supplies Jade with some of her rarer requests.”

“Ah.” Svetta nods, filling each glass to the brim. “That Jade. She always keeps me on my toes. Had me planting three rows of some kind of Japanese spring root this season. Almost took over my entire garden.”

I finally smile. There is a familiar ring in Svetta’s voice. A hint of an accent hidden beneath the more obvious one that matched my friends. It’s French.

Is this who Julien learned it from? I hadn’t noticed that Julien’s grandmother Rebeckah had any kind of accent, but I definitely hear it in Svetta’s voice.

I cautiously take a sip of the tea. It’s a little bitter, but tolerable. “Have you always lived here?”

Svetta passes more glasses around the table. “I was born in this house.”

“Your family, though. Are they all from Sanctuary?”

Svetta’s smile is slow. “La Rochelle. It’s on the France coastline. I suspect you already knew that, though.”

Her accent is thicker now, as if she’d been intentionally downplaying it before. I give her a slight nod. “I was always curious where Julien learned his French. Julien’s father Francois must have spoken it too. There was sign in French in the window of a bar he owned in Charleston.”

Svetta nods. “Yes. Julien learned it from the Cote side of his family. His father taught him, like his grandfather taught me as a young girl. Julien would come visit me. He enjoyed practicing the language. I think it was a challenge for his mind. We used to sit here by the window and we’d play cards for hours.”

Svetta pats the back of the empty seat she stands behind. “It’s been lonely without him. My sweet Julien. This curse, people think it hurts the one it consumes the most, but I tell you, my old heart can’t bear much more of it.”

Reid scoots to the edge of his seat. “That’s why we came to see you. We want to end the curse.”

She turns away. “There is no ending the curse.”

Reid’s voice is soft as he takes in the sadness in poor Svetta’s eyes. “There is a way, Svetta.”

“There is no way without the Book of the Moon. A book that is lost. It’s gone.” She shakes her head. “Without that book, there is no ending this curse. If that’s what you’ve come all this way to ask me, I’m afraid you’ve wasted your day.”

“The book isn’t lost,” I say, moving toward her. I take her hand and pull out the seat for her to sit with us. “The book was stolen. The Bessette family has it.”

“Bessette?” She looks at me for a long moment and then leans away. “You’ve been listening to old rumors. There hasn’t been a Bessette in Sanctuary in…”

“A hundred years?” Reid smiles tentatively at her. “Since the last known time the Book of the Moon was seen?”

Svetta stares at Reid now. “How do you know this?”

“We met one of them. His name was Roux Bessette. He was in Charleston with your nephew Francois. Julien’s father, in his cursed state, agreed to help Roux try to kill Wilhelmina. Just like he did Wilhelmina’s mother Katherine. Roux knew we would find out his family’s secret.”

Svetta’s breath hitches. “If what you speak is true, then you must find that book. You must save my Julien.”

“Roux was killed that night Charleston. We don’t know who the curse would have passed on to in that family. There have to be more of them. We have to find out where they’re hiding.”

Svetta closes her eyes. “The Bessette family was always so secretive. I remember my mother telling me how they lived in a small section of Sanctuary. A tiny road just between Frog Hollow and Shadow Bend. Maybe a couple acres of land. There were three Bessette brothers. The oldest, Roux Bessette. Your dead man must have been named after him.”

Reid suddenly perked up. “Maybe the person next in line was named after one of the other brothers.”

Svetta stares out the window over my shoulder, her gaze far away from the stained glass. “One of the brothers was named Talbot. Talbot Bessette.”

I’m on the edge of my seat now. “And the third?”

Svetta taps her finger against the glass in her hands, her brows scrunching together. “Gerian? No. Gerrade maybe? I can’t be sure. It was such a long time ago.”

Reid sinks a little next to me. “It’s okay, Svetta. That’s great. That at least gives us something to go on.”

She crosses her long fingers together, studying them. “You’re really going to find it?”

“Yes,” I say, more sure of it now than I ever have been. “I will find it. I will end this curse for good.”

She looks back up at me. “You know this task won’t be easy. The Haunted, once the curse takes them, don’t want to be saved. Julien will fight it. This unknown Bessette will fight it.” Then she glances at Reid. “And if the rumors are true…she will fight it most of all.”

Reid barely nods. “I know.”

I glance back and forth between them. “Who are you talking about? What rumors?”

Svetta traces the rim of her glass, causing it to sing an off key tune. “Would you like me to tell her, or would you rather she hear it from you?”

Reid runs a tired hand down his face. I give his shoulder a gentle nudge. “What rumors?”

He takes a deep breath and leans back in his seat. “During Ezekiel’s funeral, there were people talking that when his little sister heard about his death, she killed their father.”

My mouth drops open. “First of all…when does Zeke have a sister? Why haven’t I heard about her? And why would she kill her father? Wouldn’t that make the curse pass to her?”

Reid sighs again. “You’d have to know Erika.”

Grady shivers. “Dude, I don’t even like hearing you say her name.”

I eye them all warily. The mood in the room shifts. Even the bright light that streams through the window dims. “That child was always rotten,” Svetta says quietly, as if she’s talking to the table instead of us. “She’s the prime reason the rest of us can barely go into town without causing a scene.”

Reid’s gaze finds mine, his expression stern. “Erika constantly chose to let her alter ego possess her. She wreaked havoc on this town on a daily basis.”

Grady nods. “Zeke tried to keep her in line, but the more he tried, the harder she fought it.”

Reid leans over the table. “Finally, Zeke had no choice but to ask Erika to leave Shadow Bend. He said he sent her to their father, but no one knows if she made it there.”

Svetta points her shaky finger directly at my chest. “If Erika Prescott has received the curse…you have more than my nephew to fear if you plan to complete this task.”

Reid’s stare is cold. I know it’s true. I take another drink of Svetta’s tea, but it doesn’t make the chills go away.

“Svetta,” Reid says quietly, “you know I don’t want to ask you this, but we have good reason to believe your nephew might be back in Sanctuary. Have you or anyone else on Raven Ridge seen him?”

“I have not seen my nephew since the summer. He sat there in that seat, impatiently flipping through one of my old books, wasting time until he could go pick up this pretty, young girl he couldn’t stop talking about for a date.”

She doesn’t look at me, but when I go still, she smiles. “The Raven has seen many things, though. Soulless eyes roaming the mountains. They slink through the darkness. Evil is here, young Thomas. It will find us all.”

Reid’s features are a little tighter. “Do you think it’s Julien?”

“I’m not for certain. It’s hard to distinguish one type of evil from another. I suggest you act quickly on this plan. It won’t take the Bessettes long to recruit the others. If there is one thing the Haunted can agree on, it’s that the Innocent must die.”

Svetta stands back up, and so does everyone else, so I follow suit. “I will stop this curse,” I say. “I will end the pain and loss once and for all.”

“I see why Julien liked you so much, Miss Daniels.” She shakes her finger at me before reaching over and gently tapping my chin. “You go bring my nephew home. We will sit by the fire when the snows come and play old maid until the sun goes to sleep on us. I might even teach you the language of my people too.”

I try not to smile but I do. “I’ll do my best, Svetta.”

She pats my arm and we slowly make our way to the door. “And, Miss Daniels…one more thing.”

Svetta turns around and tosses a giant red apple toward me. I awkwardly catch it and stare down at it. “I may be an old, scary looking lady, but my hearing…still works like a charm.”

I hold up the apple, and Svetta laughs. Grady was right. She is a little crazy, but it’s the kind I could learn to like. “Thank you, Svetta.”

I take a gaping bite out of the apple.

Chapter 5

The Slow Burn

I can’t believe I thought the hike down the Ridge was difficult. Hiking up it is nearly impossible. My arms cling around a nearby tree and I hang onto it for dear life, gasping. I can’t believe this is the way I’ll die. Outdone by exercise. It’s completely embarrassing. I throw a rock at Reid to catch his attention before crumbling to the ground in a heap of tortured mush.

Reid turns around and spots me. “Did I forget to mention I’m more of an inside girl? You know…books…baking…not dying.”

He smiles as he slides back down the hill to me and unlatches my arms from the tree. He helps me up to my feet and I instantly slip. The dirt suddenly feels like quicksand under my feet. Every movement is exaggerated and labored. Reid holds onto me tighter. “We are almost there. I can see the cliff.”

I wave him away. My lungs have shrunk into crinkling candy wrappers, and my head is light. “Leave me here. I’ll make friends with the squirrels. We’ll make acorn pies together. It’ll be lovely. People will write stories about us.”

I cling back to my tree, hugging it tight. Reid looks down his nose at me and laughs. “Okay, who thought Svetta’s mulberry root tea would hit Willa before we made it back to my truck?”

“Me,” Abby says, and Grady raises his hand too.

I turn away and the ground starts to spin. “What are you talking about?”

Reid catches me again, keeping me from rolling down the hill. “You know how Jade put a dash of cider in your pumpkin drink yesterday?”

I catch on a branch of a small tree next to me to keep myself from toppling over. “Yeah.”

“Svetta is known for putting a lot of dashes in her famous mulberry root tea.”

I peer over Reid’s shoulder and realize it’s not just the ground swirling now. The stars are pulsating bowling balls of light in the dimming evening sky. “I’m tipsy?”

“Honey,” Reid says, grinning at me, “you were tipsy an hour ago. Now you’re straight up drunk. You started giving random stones rock ’n’ roll legend names about half a mile back.”

Abby walks by us and pats my head. “Don’t worry, though. The trick to Svetta’s tea is that it packs a punch, but you lose the buzz pretty quickly.”

“Huh.” I move my hand in front of my face, causing a doubling effect. “Svetta really is a crazy old lady.”

“That’s what I’ve been telling you,” Grady says, following Abby up the path.

Reid carries me the rest of the way, and Abby, with a little magic, lifts me back up onto the cliff’s edge. I’m finally able to stand up without the scene around me spinning, but I still take Reid’s arm to keep my balance. You know…just in case.

The sun hangs low in the sky as we finally make it back to Reid’s truck. He helps me climb inside and fastens my seatbelt for me. The side effects of the tea are already starting to wane, but my eyes grow tired instead. Grady cranks the engine, but the truck doesn’t start. He jingles the key in the ignition and tries again. Nothing.

He peeks over the head rest at Reid. “Have you been having trouble with your truck lately?”

Reid scoots up on the edge of the seat. “No.”

Grady tries a third time, but the engine won’t turn. “Well, I think your battery may be dead.”

“That’s ridiculous. Let me check it.”

Reid hops out and pops the hood. He fiddles underneath it for a few minutes until finally he climbs down and walks back around to the open door. “It’s not the battery.”

“What is it?”

“Someone loosened a sensor.” He throws up a hand toward Grady. “Try it now.”

Grady turns the ignition and the truck’s engine bursts to life. I think I know the answer to my question, but I ask it anyway. “How does a sensor get loose?”

“Someone was here,” Grady says.

Reid nods. “Someone who didn’t want to stop us from leaving, but wanted us to know he could have if he wanted.”

“Julien. He’s playing mind games with us.” I unbuckle my seatbelt and scoot out of the truck toward Reid. “He won’t stop. We have to find the Bessette family, and soon.”

“I know.” Reid holds me close to him. “Get in. Let’s go home. I don’t want the darkness to find us still in Raven Ridge.”

We leave the Ridge in a hurry, all of us looking over our shoulders, never knowing what could be following us home. Sadie, Sera, and Jade wait for us at my house, eager to hear what we found out. We move our meeting into my back yard, where Reid helped transform the ocean of weeds into a cozy hangout spot for our family.

I run inside to grab a jacket, and Reid catches me on my way back out. “Hey, can I talk with you a second?”

“Sure. What’s wrong?”

“I want to talk to you about Erika.” He stuffs his hands in his front pockets. “I want to make sure you understand what we’re up against.” He scuffs his foot along the rough wood of the porch.

“What do you mean?”

“The Prescotts suffer from greed, like Julien’s alter ego was a slave to his lust, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Erika wanted something she couldn’t have, and she became so obsessed with it, that when she figured out she’d never get it, it triggered something in her. It caused her to give her alter ego possession. It caused her to lose her family and her friends. If the rumors really are true and she has the Prescotts’ curse now…she is dangerous. Especially to you.”

“Why me? I mean I know I’m the leader of my family now, but—”

“You have what she wanted, Willa.” My brows rise and he sighs. “Me. You have me.”

Suddenly, my heart sinks. Erika wanted Reid. “Wait. You’re telling me Ezekiel’s little sister wanted you so bad it drove her crazy?”

Reid groans. “Pretty much.”

“Wow.”

He leans back, studying my face. “Is that a smirk?”

I try very hard to keep a straight face. “No.”

He doesn’t believe me. “Wilhelmina, this isn’t a joke.”

“You hoarding yourself at the risk of death and torture of the entire town. I have to admit, Reid. I’m impressed.”

He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest. “Go ahead, make your jokes. Get it out of your system.”

I grin at him.

“Wilhelmina, please take this seriously. Erika is dangerous. Maybe even more so than Julien. I don’t know if she’ll ever come back to Sanctuary, but if she does, I want you to be prepared.”

I look him dead in the eye. “You’re not just my Sun, Reid Thomas. I love Ezekiel, and I always will, but if his little sister shows up here and even looks at you the wrong way, I’ll have her little Haunted head on a stick.”

His forehead falls against mine. “I just want you to be safe.”

I grip his arms tight. “I just want you.”

Someone clears their throat behind us, and Reid glances down the steps where Grady stands sheepishly waiting. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but I could really use some help starting this bonfire.”

I eye Grady from around Reid’s shoulder. “You realize your girlfriend can set this entire region ablaze. Why don’t you ask her for help?”

“We’re men. When do we ever choose to do it the easy way?”

I give Reid’s hip a gentle nudge. “Go help him.”

Reid gives me a tentative smile before stepping forward, but I catch his elbow. “Just remember…I’m still waiting on that continuance from this morning.”

Blush.

Only Reid Thomas can make it that incredibly irresistible.

“I know.”

He helps Grady start the bonfire in the fire pit. He does it the old fashioned way, which causes me to laugh. How easy it would be for him to make the wood catch fire, but instead they both take the stubborn way out and kindle the small fire into a larger flame by hand. I curl into a seat close to the fire, tucking my legs beneath me. The punch from Svetta’s tea is nearly gone, but the sleepy haze starts to drag me under. The heat from the fire is like a slow lullaby as Reid and Abby tell the others about our day.

Julien Cote out there waiting to kill me.

Erika Prescott biding time for her revenge.

And this unknown Bessette with my stolen book. Is it Talbot or the one with no name?

As the fire starts to burn low, Sadie finally stands up. “So, what’s the plan to figure out if this Talbot Bessette is our guy?”

Reid scratches his head. “I don’t know. I thought maybe we’d go find the old Bessette Homestead and see if we can find any clues there.”

Sadie places her hands next to the flames, rubbing them together. “No one knows where they lived.”

“Actually, Svetta mentioned the Bessettes’ old house is down a road right between the borders of Frog Hollow and Shadow Bend.”

Sadie’s eyes widen. “You mean Rickamore Road.”

“Exactly.”

Grady jerks his head around, his face turning pale. “We can’t go there. No one goes there.”

Reid tosses a pebble across the fire at him. “Why? Because of some old ghost stories? The Bessette family probably started those rumors to keep people away from there.”

“You can’t just go trespassing on people’s land,” Grady says. “They frown on that sort of thing here, if you haven’t noticed.”

“The Bessettes are gone. For all anyone else knows, we accidently stumbled on the wrong place leaving the Hollow.”

Grady starts to pace. “You don’t just accidently stumble down Rickamore Road.”

“All right. We’ll wait until Tuesday night. Everyone in town will be preoccupied with the holiday. It will be the perfect cover.”

Grady is suddenly in a panic. “Holiday. That holiday is Halloween. You don’t stir the ghoul pot on the most haunted night of the year.”

Reid tries not to laugh as he starts to throw more wood on the fire. “What do you think we should do, Willa?”

My eyes dart open. I hadn’t realized I’d shut them. “Huh?”

Reid sets down the block of wood in his hands and comes over to me. “What do you think? Are you too scared to go investigate an abandoned homestead of the Haunted on Halloween night?”

I rake a hand down my face. “That sounds like a horrible idea. Where do I sign up?”

Reid rubs my shoulder. “See. Willa is with me.”

Grady holds up his hands. “Fine. You take your magical friend,” he makes sure to use finger quotes around the word friend, “and go ghost hunt all you want, but count me out.”

Abby grins over at him. “I can’t believe you’re scared.”

Grady sighs. “There is evil down Rickamore Road. Not just ghosts. Something dark. It’s the kind of darkness that follows you home. You heard what Svetta said. The Raven has seen things in the woods.”

“You’ve let the normal folks here tell you too many old stories,” Reid says, laughing at the wide-eyed expression on his friend’s face.

“Maybe, but you can count me out.”

Reid stands up, placing his hands on the back of my shoulders. “All right. Who else is brave enough to join Willa and me on a little Halloween expedition?”

Abby and Sadie smile at each other before pounding fists. Yellow and blue sparks flash between them. “Count us in.”

Reid glances back at Grady. “Last chance to join us, big guy. You’re really going to make me go alone with a bunch of girls?”

Grady scowls at him. “Yep. Good luck.”

Abby laughs, trotting over to give her boyfriend a giant hug. “Come on, I’ll drive you home. I wouldn’t want anything to frighten you on your way out of the Hollow.”

Grady and Abby walk back around the house arm in arm, and I wait until they’re gone. “Is he always like that? Grady seemed so brave down in Charleston when he went with us.”

“Grady? He’s always been a scaredy cat when it comes to ghosts. When this is all over, we’ll have to take him to meet old Priscilla. Show him that ghosts aren’t so bad.”

“Yeah,” I say, recalling the ghost I’d met in the Charleston cemetery with her yellow feathered hat. “When this is all over.”

The fire burns low now, the darkness deep around us. Sadie stands next to the flame staring at the ground. She glances at us, at Reid’s hand on my shoulder. It’s then I realize the problem. Abby and Grady together. Reid standing at my side. Sadie is alone. Ezekiel gone forever.

“Sadie?”

Her eyes are still a little glossy. “Yeah?”

“Do you want to stay here tonight?”

She immediately sighs a little. “Do you guys mind? It’s late, and after the knife in the door and what happened with your truck today, I don’t really want to walk home by myself.”

I don’t question her lie. “Of course, you’re always welcome. You know that.”

Reid wraps his arm around my waist. “You can have my room for the night.”

My head instantly pops around, but he doesn’t look at me. Reid puts out the remaining flame from the bonfire, and Sadie and I go inside. She’s still quiet, but the sadness is gone from her face for now. I wash up a few glasses in the sink while Reid helps Sadie get arranged in his room. I hear him come back down the stairs. His body slams against my back and I stumble forward against the sink. He reaches around me and turns off the water.